HF 

Mil 

J8 


UC-NRLF 


E  HIGHER  EDUCATION  AS 

TRAINING   FOR  BUSINESS 

—Harry  Pratt  Judson 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Class 


The  Higher^  Education  as  a  Training 
for  Business 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


Hgents 

THE  BAKER  &  TAYLOR  COMPANY 
NEW  YORK 

CAMBRIDGE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 
LONDON  AND   EDINBURGH 


The  Higher  Education 

as  a  Training  for 

Business 


By  HARRY  PRATT  JUDSON 
|l 

President  of  the  University  of  Chicago 


OFTHE 

UNIVERSITY 


THE  UNIVER'STT-T-W^CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


H  Fi 


COPYRIGHT  1896  BY 
HENRY  ALTEMUS,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 


COPYRIGHT  1911  BY 
THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO 


All  Rights  Reserved 

Published  1896 
Second  edition  January  1911 


Printed  By 

The  University  of  Chicago  Press 
Chicago,  Illinois,  U.S.A. 


PREFACE. 

Few  facts  in  education  are  more  striking 
of  late  years  than  the  growth  in  attendance 
at  colleges  and  universities.  The  rate  of 
this  growth  considerably  exceeds  that  of 
the  population  of  the  country  as  a  whole. 
A  concomitant  fact  is  the  comparatively 
small  number  of  college  students  who  are 
seeking  the  learned  professions.  The  great 
mass  of  the  young  men  in  college  after 
graduation  will  be  connected  with  some  form 
of  business. 

There  are  those  who  think  that  the  present 
situation  is  a  mistake;  that  young  men  are 
wasting  their  time,  so  far  as  a  business 
career  is  concerned,  by  spending  years  in 
obtaining  a  college  course.  Is  this  a  correct 
view  of  the  situation? 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  no  college 
can  insure  an  education  to  a  young  man. 
More  definitely,  no  college  ever  gives  an 
education  to  anyone.  All  that  colleges  can 
do  is  to  provide  the  facilities  whereby  one  who 


PREFACE 

wishes  may  educate  himself  more  efficiently 
than  would  otherwise  be  practicable.  It  is 
believed  that  students  who  wish  may  obtain 
knowledge  and  training  in  a  college  course 
which  will  fit  them  to  be  more  efficient  than 
would  otherwise  be  the  case  in  business 
activity.  It  is  also  believed  that  a  liberal 
education  may  provide  not  merely  such 
increased  efficiency,  but  also  so  much  wider 
comprehension  of  society  and  life  as  to 
enable  one  to  be  useful  and  to  find  interest 
in  a  multitude  of  ways  not  usual  with  one 
who  lacks  such  an  education.  A  college 
education,  in  short,  may  enable  one  to  earn 
a  living.  It  should  also  teach  one  how 
to  live.  The  following  few  pages  are  an 
attempt  to  set  forth  what  seem  to  be  con- 
siderations in  these  directions. 


THE    HIGHER    EDUCATION 

AS  A 

TRAINING  FOR  BUSINESS. 


WHY    GO    TO    COLLEGE? 

"  Why  should  I  send  my  boy  to  college  ? 
He  is  going  into  business.  If  he  spends  four 
of  his  choicest  years  in  student  life  he  will  be 
apt  to  get  expensive  habits  and  unpractical 
ideas  ;  he  will  learn  little  or  nothing  which  he 
can  use.  After  all  he  will  have  to  begin  at 
the  beginning  in  his  business,  and  he  will 
merely  be  so  much  behind  other  young  men 
who  have  been  at  work  while  he  has  been 
idling.  Besides,  I  never  saw  the  inside  of  a 
college,  and  yet  my  business  career  has  been 
a  marked  success.  The  same  thing  is  true  of 
most  men  I  meet.  What  is  the  use  of  wast- 
ing so  much  time  and  money?" 

These  are  questions  which  many  a  thought- 
ful father  asks  himself,  and  to  which  a  con- 
5 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

elusive  answer  is  not  always  at  hand.  The 
following  pages  are  an  attempt  to  group  some 
thoughts  which  may  aid  in  solving  the  prob- 
lem. But  this  should  be  distinctly  understood 
at  the  outset — it  is  not  expected  that  the  con- 
clusion will  in  all  cases  be  the  same.  Boys 
are  not  alike.  Circumstances  differ.  The 
wise  man  is  one  who  is  able  to  apply  princi- 
ples to  conditions  as  they  exist.  In  short, 
some  boys  intended  for  a  business  life  ought 
by  all  means  to  be  sent  to  college.  Others  as 
certainly  should  be  kept  away  from  college. 
And  there  are  others  of  whom  it  really  does 
not  matter  whether  they  go  or  stay. 

MANY  SUCCESSFUL  MEN  NEVER  IN 
COLLEGE. 

There  is  no  doubt  at  all  that  great  success 
in  business  may  be  won  and  is  won  by  men 
who  have  had  very  scanty  schooling.  Bankers, 
railroad  presidents,  millionaires  of  all  sorts,  who 
know  nothing  of  college  education,  are  as  thick 
as  blackberries.  And  many  of  these  are  not 
merely  men  who  have  amassed  a  fortune; 
they  are  often  men  of  great  knowledge  of 
of  the  world,  statesmen,  philanthropists,  con- 
6 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

noisseurs  in  art  and  music.  They  are  always 
men  of  great  force  of  character.  They  are 
the  "  self-made  men "  for  whom  our  demo- 
cratic American  society  has  afforded  so  many 
chances  and  of  whom  we  are  so  justly  proud. 
And  some  of  these  men  are  inclined  to  sneer 
at  the  college  as  merely  ornamental — at  col- 
lege life  as  more  or  less  elegant  idling — at 
college  studies  as  a  sort  of  educational  bric-a- 
brac.  Horace  Greeley  used  to  say  in  his  for- 
cible way,  "  Of  all  horned  cattle,  deliver  me 
from  a  college  graduate."  And  so  there  has 
come  to  be  in  many  minds  a  sharp  antithesis 
between  the  higher  education  and  business — 
such  an  antagonism  as  there  is  between  dawd- 
ling and  doing. 

SCHOLARS   OFTEN    POOR   BUSINESS   MEN. 

This  feeling  is  perhaps  deepened  by  the 
further  undoubted  fact  that  many  highly 
trained  scholars  are  poor  business  men. 
Clergymen  and  authors  and  college  professors 
sometimes  take  a  sort  of  pride  in  being  un- 
practical. They  live  in  a  land  of  dreams,  but 
the  butcher  and  the  baker  will  not  take  their 
pay  in  dreams.  Yet  the  habit  of  "high 
7 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

thinking"  apparently  takes  these  dreamers 
so  very  high  in  the  air  that  they  have  learned 
a  lofty  contempt  for  the  ground.  "  Mere 
material  considerations"  are  vulgar.  Anew 
aristocracy  has  grown  up  among  us — the 
aristocracy  of  "culture."  And  just  as  the 
old  French  noblesse  disdained  manual  labor 
as  a  peasantly  employment,  so  our  modern 
intellectual  noblesse  are  apt  to  despise  all 
business  as  uninteresting,  sordid,  common. 
"Practical" — this  word  to  numbers  of  our 
educated  men,  especially  in  their  earlier  years, 
is  like  a  red  rag  to  a  bull.  Our  Western  civi- 
lization is  inferior  to  that  of  the  East,  because 
the  West  is  too  "practical."  Life  in  the  new 
world  is  far  and  away  less  desirable  than  that 
across  the  Atlantic,  because  in  America  we 
are  too  much  absorbed  in  the  engrossing  task 
of  developing  material  resources. 

Now,  when  a  man  is  in  this  way  of  think- 
ing, he  is  hardly  apt  to  handle  with  much 
interest  or  success  such  matters  of  business  as 
fall  to  his  lot.  Every  man  is  perforce  obliged 
to  do  something  in  managing  affairs.  But  if 
he  cannot  seem  to  conduct  the  simplest  mat- 
ters without  muddling  them — if  he  is  appar- 
8 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

ently  unable  to  put  two  and  two  together 
without  making  either  three  or  five,  rather 
than  four;  if,  whether  from  carelessness  or 
inability,  he  fails  to  "  get  along,"  but  is  per- 
petually in  financial  straits,  he  is  quite  likely 
to  wear  out  the  patience  of  men  who  have  the 
faculty  of  doing  things.  And  as  education 
and  incompetence  are  in  point  of  fact  so  often 
conjoined,  it  is  not  surprising  if  the  inference 
is  at  once  made  that  they  are  merely  cause 
and  effect. 

There  are  other  business  traits  besides  prac- 
tical competence  in  which  college-educated 
men  are  often  lacking.  Punctuality  and 
fidelity  to  engagements  are  cardinal  business 
virtues.  But  clergymen  and  literary  men  in 
general  often  seem  to  have  no  idea  of  time. 
An  engagement  for  a  given  moment  seems  to 
mean  "  there  or  thereabouts."  A  note  falling 
due  on  a  given  day  may  be  met  or  arranged 
at  maturity,  if  the  good  man  who  draws  it 
happens  to  think  of  it.  Otherwise  the  bank 
is  apt  to  waive  protest  and  send  a  special  re- 
minder, with  the  sort  of  patience  one  has  for 
women  and  children. 

Then,  too,  the  man  of  business  knows  that 
9 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

busy  hours  are  precious.  He  comes  crisply 
to  the  point,  decides  promptly,  and  goes 
briskly  on  his  way.  Our  excellent  other- 
worldly scholar  lingers  and  prattles  and 
doesn't  know  how  to  make  up  his  mind  any 
more  than  does  a  woman  in  a  millinery  shop. 
He  is  in  the  habit  of  brooding  and  dreaming 
over  his  great  thoughts  in  science.  But  if 
one  is  buying  a  horse  it  doesn't  do  to  brood 
and  dream. 

Again,  a  business  man  knows  that  his  word 

o  " 

is  a  part  of  his  capital.  If  he  enters  into  en- 
gagements he  expects  to  keep  them  to  the 
letter,  or  his  reputation  for  trustworthiness, 
and  therefore  his  business,  will  be  sadly  dam- 
aged. This  is  a  sort  of  honesty  which  is  rather 
common.  But  a  scholar  sometimes  is  not 
sure  to  realize  exactly  what  this  sort  of  integ- 
rity means.  He  makes  an  engagement  to  do  a 
certain  thing ;  but  if  afterwards  he  prefers  not 
to  do  it,  it  does  not  always  occur  to  him  that 
he  is  bound  in  honor.  A  merchant  once  said 
to  the  writer,  "  It  is  queer  that  ministers  will 
lie  so  about  business  matters.  If  the  saloon 
keeper  across  the  street  promises  to  do  a  cer- 
tain thing  I  can  be  pretty  safe  in  depending 

10 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

on  it.  But  if  my  pastor  makes  a  promise  I 
am  never  quite  sure  that  he  will  keep  it  until 
the  thing  is  actually  done."  Of  course  the 
good  men  don't  lie.  They  merely  fail  to 
realize  the  force  of  words.  They  live  so  much 
among  pure  ideas,  figments  of  their  fancy 
which  come  and  go  as  the  whim  seizes,  that  it 
is  hardly  matter  for  surprise  if  things  and 
ideas  get  somewhat  mixed. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  many  profound 
scholars  are  rather  helpless  business  men. 

BUSINESS   NOT  THE   CHIEF   AIM    OF  THE 
HIGHER   EDUCATION. 

Of  course,  this  also  is  true — success  in 
business  is  quite  distinctly  not  the  chief  aim 
in  the  higher  education.  The  college  plans 
for  various  ends — for  mental  training,  which 
surely  ought  to  stand  one  in  stead  in  any  oc- 
cupation which  the  mind  serves — for  a  wide 
variety  of  knowledge,  knowledge  of  books, 
and  language,  and  science,  knowledge  of 
history,  and  art,  and  philosophy;  for  a  cer- 
tain polish,  that  refinement  in  thought  and 
manner  which  makes  the  gentleman  tech- 
nically so  called.  And  we  see  at  once 
ii 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

that  the  most  of  these  things  have  little 
bearing  on  making  bargains,  which  after 
all  is  the  essence  of  business.  Suppose  a 
young  man  can  read  Greek  fluently,  is  famil- 
iar with  the  history  of  philosophy,  is  able  to 
detect  and  relish  the  airiest  niceties  of  literary 
style,  how  much  better  equipped  is  he  with 
all  that  for  manufacturing  mowing  machines  ? 
One  can  only  say  that  when  the  college  was 
teaching  philosophy  and  literary  criticism  it  had 
absolutely  no  thought  of  mowing  machines 
at  all.  It  was  aiming  at  refined  culture ;  and 
culture  we  do  not  ordinarily  place  in  the  same 
category  with  mowing  machines.  True,  a 
man  may  at  the  same  time  enjoy  Plato  and 
jute  bagging.  Perhaps  there  is  nothing  es- 
sentially incongruous  in  the  thought  of  a 
banker  who  is  familiar  with  the  correlation  of 
forces ;  and  the  writer  has  seen  a  learned 
professor  of  Greek  engaged  industriously  and 
skillfully  in  chopping  cord  wood.  All  that  is 
maintained  is  that  the  higher  education  does 
not  make  these  practical  avocations  its  chief 
end.  It  has  quite  different  purposes  to  which 
it  gives  the  first  place.  In  other  words,  the 
real  college  is  decidedly  not  a  business  college. 

12 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 
COLLEGE    WEAKLINGS. 

But  it  is  not  learned  men  only  who  are  un- 
practical dilettanti.  There  are  plenty  of  col- 
lege youths  who  have  not  even  a  speaking 
acquaintance  with  learning,  and  whose  prac- 
tical abilities  are  conspicuous  by  their  absence. 
They  have  opinions  about  neckties.  They 
have  a  vast  store  of  knowledge  anent  the 
niceties  of  social  forms.  They  are  marvel- 
ously  wise  in  women  lore.  They  are  widely 
read  in  fiction,  being  thoroughly  convinced  of 
the  expedience  of  industry  in  this  especial 
branch  of  literary  culture — they  call  novels 
"books."  They  are  connoisseurs  in  cigars 
and  wines,  and  are  thoroughly  posted  on 
all  matters  of  intercollegiate  sport.  Do  you 
recognize  the  type  ?  It  is  common  enough — 
indeed  it  is  the  college  type  which  is  perhaps 
most  obtrusively  in  evidence.  The  seasoned 
man  of  the  world  smiles  indulgently,  as  he 
would  at  the  antics  of  a  pert  terrier.  But 
sober  people  look  more  sober  still.  Is  this 
the  sort  of  thing  which  the  college  means  ? 
Are  these  shallow  youths  the  natural  product 
of  the  higher  education  ?  Is  this  the  training 
which  is  to  take  up  the  world's  work  with  the 
energy  and  ability  of  disciplined  power  ? 
13 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 
COLLEGE   ATTENDANCE   GROWING. 

But,  notwithstanding  the  obtrusiveness  of 
these  phases  of  student  character,  the  attend- 
ance at  colleges  is  greatly  increasing — at  a 
higher  rate,  indeed,  than  the  general  increase 
of  population  would  lead  us  to  expect.  And 
a  still  more  significant  fact  is  the  considerable 
number  in  each  college  class  who  are  not 
going  into  the  learned  professions.  Time  was 
when  the  overwhelming  majority  of  graduates 
went  at  once  to  theology,  or  law,  or  medicine, 
as  a  matter  of  course.  That  is  not  the  case  to- 
day. A  large  number  of  the  college  students 
of  the  time  are  planning  for  a  business  life,  as 
the  statistics  of  any  college  class  will  show. 
Sometimes  this  fact  is  bewailed,  as  indicating, 
for  instance,  a  poverty  of  material  for  recruit- 
ing the  ranks  of  the  clergy.  But  such  an 
inference  is  unwarranted.  The  proportion  of 
graduates  entering  the  ministry  is  less  than  of 
old,  partly  because  so  many  more  are  getting 
a  college  education. 

IS   COLLEGE   TRAINING   ALL   A   MISTAKE? 

In  the  light  of  these  facts,  we  see  that  not- 
withstanding the  admitted  absurdities  which 
14 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

cling  about  college  training,  still  there  is  an 
increasing  number  of  young  men  seeking 
that  training  and  yet  expecting  to  enter  busi- 
ness life.  Are  they  all  wrong?  Are  they 
wasting  their  time  and  their  money  ?  Or  is 
it  possible  that  the  unpractical  features  of  the 
higher  learning  on  which  we  have  dwelt  are 
perhaps  only  partial  truths  after  all?  We 
know  that  it  is  the  disagreeables  which  make 
an  impression.  The  newspapers  are  full  of  re- 
ports of  crimes  and  blunders,  while  the  quiet 
and  noble  lives,  which  so  vastly  outnumber 
those  of  the  other  kind,  find  little  public 
notice.  If  this  were  not  true,  our  society 
would  be  impossible  and  would  resolve  itself 
into  chaos.  So  one  should  take  the  daily 
press  as  quite  largely  a  record  of  the  unusual 
and  the  abnormal.  And  it  may  be  that  this 
is  also  true  in  regard  to  an  impression  of  col- 
lege men.  A  cluster  of  young  donkeys  at 
Cambridge  make  a  sudden  display  of  their 
ears,  and  the  scandalized  nation  exclaims : 
"  What  silly  creatures  these  Harvard  students 
are  ! "  Are  they  ?  Are  there  not  many  hun- 
dreds of  young  men  under  the  old  elms  who 
are  quietly  attending  to  their  business  in 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

manly  fashion,  while  it  is  perhaps  a  dozen 
who  have  disgraced  themselves?  And  is  it 
the  dozen,  or  the  hundreds,  who  are  the 
Harvard  type? 

Then,  perhaps,  it  is  worth  while  to  inquire 
with  some  care  into  the  accuracy  of  that  notion 
of  the  higher  learning  which  makes  its  products 
unpractical,  visionary,  pedantic,  dandified. 
That  such  results  do,  in  fact,  appear,  cannot 
be  denied.  But  are  they  the  normal  results  ? 
Do  our  ideas  of  the  colleges  need  readjust- 
ing ?  Let  us  see. 

WHAT   WE   MEAN    BY   BUSINESS. 

First  of  all  we  should  see  what  we  mean 
by  business. 

Business  is  the  art  of  getting  and  keeping 
money,  or  money's  worth. 

The  merchant,  the  banker,  the  manufact- 
urer, are  all  busy  as  bees  with  a  common 
object.  The  merchant  aims  to  sell  goods  for 
more  than  they  have  cost  him.  The  banker 
loans  money  for  interest.  The  manufacturer 
tries  to  change  the  form  of  his  raw  materials 
so  as  to  give  the  products  an  enhanced  value. 
They  all  want  profit.  And  profit  to  all  alike 
16 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

means  addition  to  capital — money,  or  what 
can  be  exchanged  for  money. 

Walk  the  streets  of  a  modern  city,  and 
what  do  we  see?  Stores,  offices,  manufact- 
ories crowded  with  men  and  women,  and  all 
actively  at  work.  Trucks  and  wagons  fill  the 
streets,  streams  of  people  pass  along  the  side- 
walks, all  in  a  hurry,  nearly  all  intent  on 
buying  or  selling.  In  the  railroad  yards  long 
freight  trains  are  coming  and  going,  piled  and 
packed  with  merchandise.  At  the  docks 
ships  are  lying,  with  an  army  of  stevedores 
loading  or  unloading  cargo.  Everywhere 
bustle,  rush,  noise,  labor.  In  the  residence 
streets  there  is  more  quiet.  But  at  nightfall 
they,  too,  are  filled  with  people  coming  home 
from  office  or  shop,  to  get  by  repose  strength 
for  another  day  of  work  and  worry.  A  city 
is  a  hive  of  industry,  surrounded  by  the 
homes  of  the  workers. 

Now  all  this  is  business.  The  great  bulk 
of  people  in  any  city  are,  in  one  shape  or 
another,  dependent  directly  on  business  for 
their  livelihood.  And  every  man  is  to  some 
extent  a  business  man. 
17 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 
BUSINESS   OR   PROFESSION. 

Perhaps  your  friend  who  is  a  physician 
says  :  "  No,  I  am  a  professional  man.  My 
neighbor  who  keeps  a  shoe  store  is  in 
business.  But  I  am  not."  He  is  right  and 
wrong  at  the  same  time.  Is  he  practising 
medicine  merely  from  benevolence?  or  for 
amusement  ?  or  in  order  to  add  to  his  scien- 
tific knowledge?  He  may  have  all  these 
objects ;  but  if  he  is  a  good  doctor,  he 
charges  round  fees  and  takes  pains  to  collect 
them.  He  uses  every  legitimate  means  of 
extending  his  practice,  so  as  to  multiply  his 
fees.  As  he  gets  older  he  gets  richer,  and 
invests  his  money  in  a  fine  home,  in  an  ex- 
pensive turnout,  perhaps  in  safe  mortgages. 
And  just  to  the  extent  that  he  tries  to  make 
money  and  takes  care  of  his  money  when  it 
is  made,  is  he  a  business  man.  To  be  sure, 
many  a  good  physician  is  a  poor  man  of  busi- 
ness. But  that  is  his  misfortune.  Business 
is  a  part  of  his  work,  and  a  very  important 
part.  He  is  a  professional  man,  to  be  sure ; 
but  he  is  a  business  man,  too. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  lawyer,  and  even 
of  the  clergyman.  In  short  any  form  of 
18 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

human  activity  in  which  money-getting  or 
money-keeping  is  an  element,  to  that  extent 
is  a  business. 

Then  is  there,  in  fact,  a  valid  distinction 
between  a  profession  and  a  business?  Un- 
doubtedly. Any  line  of  life  may  necessarily 
involve  business  and  yet  viewed  as  a  whole 
may  be  a  profession.  The  decision  depends 
on  the  prevailing  tendency.  The  nature  of 
his  work  is  such  that  the  main  thoughts  of  a 
good  physician  turn  on  problems  of  healing. 
The  financial  returns  hold  a  secondary  place. 
But  if  this  relation  is  inverted  the  medical 
practitioner  at  once  becomes  predominantly  a 
business  man.  The  true  physician  is  in  a 
profession.  The  quack  is  in  business.  And 
how  it  jars  on  the  public  sense  of  the  fitness 
of  things  to  see  a  physician,  or  an  artist,  or  a 
cleryman,  or  a  poet,  making  money  profit  a 
primary  end  !  We  say  :  "  He  is  mercenary" 
and  there  is  a  sneer  in  the  word.  There  is 
nothing  disparaging  in  calling  a  banker  mer- 
cenary. Of  course  he  is.  But  we  have  not 
the  same  respect  for  a  literary  hack  that  we 
have  for  a  merchant,  although  both  have  the 
same  primary  object  in  view.  We  see  at 
IQ 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

once  that  the  former  has  inverted  the  true 
relation  of  things — the  latter  preserves  them. 
The  one  is  abnormal — the  other  is  normal. 
Each  is  a  business  man,  to  be  sure ;  but  the 
hack  writer,  the  medical  quack,  the  ecclesias- 
tical money  maker,  the  skillful  artist  who 
contents  himself  with  "pot  boilers,"  all  alike 
have  put  the  stamp  of  business  on  occupations 
in  which  we  feel  that  it  should  be  altogether 
secondary  to  another  aim. 

Any  form  of  human  activity,  then,  in  which 
money  or  its  equivalent  is  the  chief  end  in 
view,  is  primarily  a  business,  and  any  form  of 
human  activity  in  which  money  profit  is  not 
the  chief  end  in  view  is  not  primarily  a  busi- 
ness, and  so  may  be  regarded  as  a  profession. 
But  many  human  occupations  include  busi- 
ness, although  that  is  not  their  predominant 
character.  And  by  giving  the  business  ele- 
ment the  chief  place,  any  such  occupation  at 
once  becomes  a  business. 

Such  an  inversion  of  things  is  distasteful  to 
most  people,  however,  and  is  apt  to  cast  a 
stigma  on  the  one  who  is  responsible  for  it. 
Is  that  because  in  the  nature  of  business  there 
is  anything  unworthy  of  a  high-minded  man  ? 

20 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

By  no  means.  Business  in  itself  is  a  most 
honorable  pursuit.  More,  it  is  the  prime 
necessity  of  human  existence,  and  in  its  larger 
forms,  is  the  essential  condition  of  modern 
civilization.  The  area  of  European  ideas  has 
been  extended  around  the  world.  Whole 
populations  have  been  transferred  across  the 
Atlantic — new  means  of  transportation,  and  of 
the  transmission  of  thought,  have  revolution- 
ized modern  life.  The  forces  of  nature  have 
largely  been  made  subject  to  human  will. 
And  in  all  these  great  achievements  of  the 
last  few  centuries  a  powerful  influence — per- 
haps the  most  powerful  influence — has  been 
simply  commerce.  The  exchange  of  com- 
modities and  the  profit  resulting  therefrom  are 
what  maintain  human  existence,  surround  it 
with  comfort,  provide  for  the  extension  of 
learning,  for  art,  science,  literature  and  reli- 
gion. Business,  then,  which  is  so  essential  a 
part  of  human  activity,  can  properly  be  regard- 
ed only  as  a  dignified  and  important  pursuit. 

THE   OBJECT   OF   BUSINESS. 

We  have  spoken  of  business  as  the  art  of 
getting    and    keeping    money,    or    money's 
21 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

worth.  This  is  intended  as  a  plain,  rough- 
and-ready  statement  of  the  case,  without  any 
attempt  at  splitting  hairs.  To  be  sure,  if  we 
were  writing  a  treatise  on  political  economy  we 
might  put  the  matter  in  different  words ;  but 
for  all  practical  purposes  it  would  seem  that 
our  definition  would  answer. 

Then  it  is  plain  enough  that  money-making 
in  some  form  is  the  leading  object  of  business. 
Men  buy  and  sell,  not  merely  for  fun,  but  for 
profit.  Of  course  one  may  take  much 
pleasure  in  giving  money  away,  in  helping 
the  poor,  in  subscribing  to  all  sorts  of  religious 
and  benevolent  objects.  A  wealthy  miner 
setting  out  for  Alaska,  not  long  since,  amused 
himself  while  waiting  for  the  steamer  to  start 
by  throwing  double  handfuls  of  gold  and 
silver  coin  among  the  crowd  on  the  dock. 
Of  course  there  was  a  great  scramble,  which 
tickled  the  miner  exceedingly.  But  giving 
away  money  is  not  business.  It  may  be  a 
very  praiseworthy  thing  or  a  very  foolish 
thing.  The  swaggering  parvenu  who  lighted 
his  cigar  with  a  hundred-dollar  bill  doubtless 
enjoyed  the  small  sensation  he  made;  but 
that  was  not  business. 

22 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

Business  implies  first  of  all  the  effort  to 
"make  money."  And  this  is  a  perfectly 
praiseworthy  thing.  Every  man  should  do 
something  to  make  good  his  place  in  the 
world.  One  sometimes  hears  the  remark, 
"  The  world  owes  me  a  living."  But  in  truth 
the  world  owes  a  living  to  no  one  who  has 
not  earned  it ;  and  he  is  a  poor  specimen  of 
a  man  who  dawdles  through  life  putting  forth 
no  effort  in  return  for  the  comforts  which  he 
enjoys.  Such  a  man,  if  he  is  poor,  we  call  "  a 
tramp."  There  are  rich  people  who  live  in 
fine  houses  and  clothe  themselves  in  style 
and  eat  and  drink  of  the  best,  and  who 
are  no  more  respectable  or  useful  to  the 
world  than  the  shiftless  vagabonds  of  the 
highways.  Everybody  who  can  do  so  ought 
to  earn  his  own  living,  or  her  own  living. 
And  no  one  who  can  do  that  and  does  not, 
can  understand  what  is  meant  by  self-respect. 

We  pay  altogether  too  much  attention  to 
what  our  neighbors  say  and  think  about  us. 
It  is  important,  of  course,  to  have  a  good 
name ;  but  after  all,  the  main  question  is  this — 
what  do  you  think  of  yourself?  And  lack  of 
independence  cuts  up  self-respect  by  the  roots. 
23 


.  THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

It  is  far  better  to  wear  cowhide  brogans  which 
one  has  earned  than  patent-leather  shoes  which 
are  a  gift.  The  best  way  to  help  a  poor  man 
is  to  give  him  not  money  but  work.  In  that 
case  you  bless  him  doubly — you  relieve  his 
need  and  save  his  manhood. 

LAYING  UP  MONEY. 

But  saving  is  quite  as  much  a  part  of  busi- 
ness as  is  making.  "  The  fool  and  his  money 
are  soon  parted  "  is  a  saying  as  true  as  it  is 
trite.  Indeed,  it  is  far  easier  to  earn  money 
than  it  is  to  keep  from  spending  it ;  and  busi- 
ness sagacity  is  nowhere  shown  so  rarely  as 
in  sound  economy.  It  is  perfectly  plain  that 
if  one  lives  the  allotted  term  of  human  life, 
there  will  come  a  time  when  work  is  impos- 
sible. Then  if  there  is  nothing  laid  by  for  old 
age  one  is  practically  a  pauper. 

But,  besides  this,  nearly  every  man  has 
more  or  less  helpless  ones  dependent  on  him 
for  bread.  Suppose  he  is  taken  away,  what 
is  to  become  of  them?  Common  prudence 
points  to  such  saving  in  times  of  health  and 
prosperity  as  will  provide  for  such  an  emer- 
gency. And  this  is  business. 
24 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

These  thoughts  may  enable  us  to  answer 
some  important  questions. 

What  is  the  least  which  any  man  ought  to 
earn?  Why,  enough,  in  the  first  place,  to 
provide  a  living  for  himself  and  his  family ; 
enough,  in  the  second  place,  to  insure  support 
in  time  of  old  age ;  enough,  in  the  third  place, 
in  case  of  his  death  to  care  for  those  depend- 
ent on  him. 

What  is  the  least  which  any  man  ought  to 
save  ?  Enough  to  provide  for  the  contingen- 
cies of  disability,  old  age,  or  death. 

Now,  beyond  these  limits  there  is  the  widest 
possible  range.  What  would  seem  a  generous 
living  to  one  man  would  be  poverty  to  another ; 
standards  differ.  And  when  men  accumulate 
property  beyond  the  needs  we  have  named, 
even  on  their  own  scale,  then  they  are  found- 
ing estates  for  future  generations,  or  they  are 
creating  fortunes  which  they  may  use  as  in- 
struments in  great  enterprises.  But  this  is 
wealth,  in  the  popular  sense  of  the  term. 
Providing  for  the  three  purposes  above  named 
assures  a  competence. 

25 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 
THE  PLACE  OF  HONOR  IN  BUSINESS. 

Is  honesty  the  best  policy  ? 

Many  business  men  practically  answer  this 
in  the  negative.  They  are  convinced  that 
business  is  a  game  in  which  the  sharpest  is 
the  one  most  apt  to  be  the  winner ;  that  the 
exact  truth  is  out  of  place  in  a  business  deal ; 
in  short,  that  all  is  fair  in  business  as  well  as 
in  love  and  war.  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer,  in 
his  essay  on  "  The  Morals  of  Trade,"  a  num- 
ber of  years  ago,  pointed  out  in  detail  many 
of  the  petty  frauds  to  which  the  business  of 
that  day  was  subject.  There  is  little  reason 
to  think  that  late  years  have  seen  much 
amendment. 

Some  time  ago  a  friend  of  the  writer  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  embarking  in  the  business 
of  selling  pure  spices.  He  had  been  for  a 
long  time  in  the  wholesale  grocery  trade  and 
was  well  aware  that  nearly  all  spices  were 
adulterated.  So  it  seemed  to  him  likely  that 
people  would  be  glad  to  buy  at  a  place  where 
they  could  be  assured  that  they  would  get 
only  genuine  goods.  He  obtained  his  stock 
and  opened  business.  But  very  soon  he  ran 
against  an  obstacle  which  was  wholly  unfore- 
26 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

seen.  He  found  that  nobody  wanted  pure 
spices.  They  cost  more  than  the  adulterated 
article  and  very  few  consumers  knew  the  dif- 
ference, so  thoroughly  ignorant  was  their  taste 
by  reason  of  their  long-continued  use  of  that 
kind.  It  does  not  pay  retailers  to  keep  what 
their  customers  would  not  buy.  The  dealer 
in  pure  spices  had  to  go  out  of  business. 

Did  you  ever  buy  a  barrel  of  apples  ?  How 
large  and  fair  they  are  just  under  the  cover, 
and  how  little  and  gnarled  and  wormeaten 
they  get  towards  the  centre  of  the  barrel. 
Examine  a  box  of  grapes.  On  the  surface 
the  clusters  are  large,  the  grapes  are  plump 
and  sound.  On  the  inside,  broken  bunches, 
small  and  green,  and  perhaps  unsound  grapes 
with  a  profusion  of  stems.  The  prudent  buyer 
does  not  judge  a  box  of  strawberries  by  the 
topmost  layer,  or  the  ripeness  of  a  basket 
of  peaches  by  effect  of  the  pink  gauze  spread 
over  the  top.  All  these  are  petty  frauds.  Of 
the  colossal  chicanery  which  public  life  affords 
it  is  clear  enough  that  we  need  make  no  men- 
tion. The  theft  of  public  funds,  the  wrecking 
of  railroads,  the  unscrupulous  manipulation  of 
stocks,  these  are  familiar  enough  to  all. 
27 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

FRAUD   IS    NOT   THE   PREDOMINANT 
ELEMENT. 

Now,  is  all  this  a  just  picture  of  modern 
business  ideas  and  methods?  Is  unscrupu- 
lousness  a  necessary  condition  of  business 
success  ?  Is  honesty  a  sham  ? 

There  are  some  things  which  in  fairness 
might  be  considered  on  the  other  side  of  the 
case — things  which  have  very  great  signi- 
ficance. No  business  man  can  afford  not  to 
keep  his  business  engagements  most  scrupu- 
lously. The  age  of  cash  payment  in  all  traffic 
is  but  one  step  in  advance  of  the  age  of  barter. 
Credit  is  the  very  breath  of  life  to  modern 
trade  and  a  business  man's  credit  is  a  large 
part  of  his  capital.  Indeed,  a  man  of  small 
actual  capital  whose  credit  is  gilt  edged,  can 
easily  get  a  financial  backing  which  will  enable 
him  to  do  a  large  business  and  reap  large 
profits ;  but  such  credit  depends  upon  con- 
vincing people  of  one's  absolute  fidelity  to 
engagements.  A  note  must  be  met  with 
unfailing  promptitude ;  a  verbal  pledge  must 
be  religiously  respected ;  accounts  must  be 
methodically  exact ;  any  statements  of  one's 
business  condition,  plans  or  prospects  must 
28 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

be  unfailingly  accurate.  When  one  appears 
slack  in  the  observance  of  these  principles, 
bankers  and  capitalists  begin  to  look  on  him 
with  suspicion.  They  presently  doubt  his 
statements.  They  insist  on  precise  security 
for  loans.  His  credit  evaporates.  He  is  going 
down  hill,  and  it  is  a  hill  which  cannot  be 
climbed  again.  "  Facilis  descensus  Averno" 

REPUTATION  A  SLOW  GROWTH. 

To  win  a  reputation  for  reliability  is  no 
matter  of  a  few  days.  It  takes,  usually, 
long  years  of  active  business,  so  that  people 
may  learn  slowly  to  feel  confidence.  A  busi- 
ness man,  some  years  since,  was  talking  of 
this  matter  with  the  writer.  "  Young  men," 
he  said,  "  often  fail  to  realize  the  vast  impor- 
tance to  their  future  of  winning  this  solid  con- 
fidence. Not  unfrequently  one  may  keep  to  a 
perfectly  straight  course  for  years,  and  then 
by  a  single  act  of  folly  destroy  it  all.  It  is 
not  so  much  brilliancy  as  steadiness  which  in 
the  end  will  win  business  success."  He  was 
quite  right.  Confidence  in  one's  trustworthi- 
ness depends  on  negative  evidence.  We  come 
to  believe  that  one  will  keep  faith  merely 
29 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

because  we  learn  that  thus  far  it  has  never 
been  broken.  But  a  single  positive  act  to  the 
contrary,  at  one  blow  destroys  the  trust  so 
slowly  created.  A  single  shifty  evasion  at 
once  convinces  us  that  here  is  the  true  char- 
acter coming  out  at  last — that  the  rest  is 
mere  hypocrisy.  Hence  it  is  that  business 
confidence,  the  most  valuable  possession  of  a 
business  man  to-day,  is  a  fabric  created  with 
painful  effort,  only  after  a  long  time,  and  is 
very  perishable.  In  other  words  it  is  much 
easier  to  burn  a  house  down  than  it  is  to 
build  it. 

HONESTY  A   GOOD   ASSET. 

A  reputation  for  honest  dealing  with  cus- 
tomers is  a  valuable  asset.  To  be  sure,  sharp 
tricks  may  be  used  which  will  suffice  to  palm 
off  inferior  goods  at  the  price  of  superior 
articles,  or  by  which  short  weight  or  short 
measure  may  defraud  the  customer.  Each 
of  these  devices  is  apt  to  result  in  an  immedi- 
ate profit.  But  in  the  long  run  such  frauds 
will  be  detected.  No  house  which  habitu- 
ally practices  them  can  expect  permanence. 
A  prominent  Chicago  merchant,  the  other 
day,  was  recounting  a  number  of  such  prac- 

30 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

tices  with  which  he  had  been  familiar  in 
past  years.  But  he  added  that  the  firms 
addicted  to  that  policy  had  been  weeded 
out;  one  by  one  they  had  failed.  The  houses 
which  had  weathered  the  storms  and  main- 
tained themselves  for  a  long  time  were  those 
which  would  not  cheat. 

SUCCESS  IN  BUSINESS  AND  SUCCESS 
IN  LIFE. 

It  is  just  as  well  to  remember  that  after  all 
business  is  not  the  whole  of  life.  To  be  sure, 
it  is  a  very  large  part  and  a  very  important 
part.  Still,  life  has  many  sides  beside  the 
business  side.  An  excellent  man  of  business 
may  be  a  bad  citizen,  a  bad  father,  an  unhappy 
man.  One  may  succeed  in  business  and  yet 
even  in  his  own  judgment  make  a  failure  of 
life ;  and  it  is  possible  to  fail  in  business,  but 
yet  to  make  life  a  glorious  success.  In  short, 
business  is  in  truth  a  means  to  an  end.  That 
end  is  a  good,  all-around  life.  Without  the 
products  of  business  activity  such  a  life  is 
difficult;  but  the  means  should  not  be  mis- 
taken for  the  end.  Suppose  one  succeeds  in 
getting  a  large  fortune  and  nothing  else. 
What  does  he  amount  to?  He  has  money 
3' 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

with  no  sort  of  idea  as  to  its  best  use.  He 
has  power  and  doesn't  know  what  to  do  with 
it.  He  is  like  a  superb  steam  engine,  which 
has  been  built  up  with  great  labor  and  pains, 
which  works  magnificently,  but  which  runs 
nothing  but  itself.  The  piston  slides  in  and 
out,  the  balance  wheel  whirs,  the  steam 
puffs  busily,  but  there  is  no  power  belt.  The 
engine  doesn't  really  do  anything  after  all. 
So  it  is  with  a  man  who  has  established  a 
business,  who  has  amassed  a  fortune.  He  has 
only  got  possession  of  a  tool.  Now  what  is 
he  going  to  do  with  it?  What  does  he  know 
how  to  do  with  it?  What  does  he  want  to  do 
with  it?  There  is  the  test. 

To  succeed  in  business  and  to  succeed  in 
life,  then,  are  two  things  which  are  not  always 
conjoined.  They  should  be.  The  best  success 
is  to  succeed  in  both.  But,  then,  successes  no 
small  thing  and  implies  no  small  knowledge. 
Modern  life  is  very  complex.  There  were 
times,  before  the  day  of  railroads  and  tele- 
graphs and  newspapers,  when  few  people  had 
many  things  to  think  about.  Life  was  slow. 
Nothing  happened  very  often.  The  deliberate 
jog-trot  of  existence  favored  a  placid  frame  of 
32 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

mind  which  seldom  was  disturbed  from  with- 
out and  rarely  required  any  feverish  energy 
from  within.  Men  and  cabbages  were  not 
so  far  apart  as  they  are  now. 

But  all  that  is  changed.  Human  knowl- 
edge has  not  merely  been  added  to,  it  has 
been  multiplied.  New  thoughts  are  turning 
up  on  all  sides  with  bewildering  rapidity. 
The  quiet  stream  of  life  which  flowed  between 
meadows,  reflecting  on  its  still  surface  the 
willows  and  the  blue  sky  and  the  mild-eyed 
kine,  has  become  a  rushing  torrent  which 
turns  the  wheels  of  countless  busy  mills  in  its 
rapid  way  to  the  infinite  ocean.  The  mere 
dreamer  is  out  of  date.  Men  must  be  think- 
ing and  doing  with  nervous  energy.  Their 
minds  are  wide  awake.  The  pace  is  set  by 
steam  now,  and  not  by  oxen.  People  are 
no  longer  provincial.  The  whole  world 
belongs  to  everybody. 

In  these  new  social  conditions  it  is  plain 
enough  that  the  adjustment  of  the  individual 
to  society  is  no  longer  the  relatively  simple 
thing  that  it  was.  One  who  would  fill  any 
considerable  place  in  the  world  must  under- 
stand the  world  in  more  than  a  fragmentary 
33 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

way,  and  that  understanding  implies  a  wide 
and  varied  training.  Is  it  not  reasonable  to 
conclude  that  the  best  training  for  business 
will  at  the  same  time  enable  one  to  grapple 
with  business  problems  and  to  subordinate 
business  achievements  to  their  higher  ends? 
It  will  be  a  training  for  success  in  the  acquisi- 
tion of  wealth  and  for  equal  success  in  the 
use  and  enjoyment  of  it.  Thus  will  success 
in  business  lead  to  that  wider  success  in  life 
of  which  the  former  is  only  a  part. 

THE  REQUIREMENTS  OF  BUSINESS. 

Confining  attention  for  the  present  to 
the  immediate  demands  of  adaptation  to 
business,  let  us  see  what  the  most  essential  of 
these  demands  are. 

First  of  all,  surely  nothing  is  more  essential 
than  industry.  Perhaps  it  is  true  that  most 
people  are  by  nature  lazy,  and  work  hard 
only  under  the  impulse  of  necessity.  To  be 
sure,  almost  anyone  may  be  very  energetic 
on  occasion  —  this  is  what  athletes  call  a 
"spurt;"  but  sustained  application  for  a  long 
period  of  time — this  is  what  wears  on  one's 
patience,  and  this  is  what  tells  in  the  race 
34 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

of  life.  "It's  doggedness  as  does  it,"  is  an 
old  saying  as  true  as  it  is  homely.  No  one 
is  fit  for  success  in  business  unless  so  far  under 
the  mastery  of  his  will  that  he  can  compel 
himself  to  work  hard  and  steadily;  indeed, 
his  training  is  not  complete  until  the  effort 
disappears,  and  patient  labor,  whether  by  body 
or  mind,  becomes  a  habit. 

But  mere  industry  is  not  enough.  In  order 
to  tell,  labor  must  be  well  directed;  and  to 
that  end  one  must  know  what  he  is  about. 
He  must  understand  his  business.  He  must 
know  people  and  how  to  deal  with  them. 
He  must  have  a  wide  knowledge  which 
has  no  apparent  bearing  on  his  immediate 
affairs  —  a  knowledge  which  we  commonly  call 
intelligence.  A  successful  business  man  must  I 
be  an  intelligent  man  —  a  man  who  understands./ 

But  knowledge  and  industry  are  not  enough. 
The  business  man's  mind  should  not  only  be 
well  stored,  but  acute  as  well.  He  should  be 
able  to  see  a  point,  and  quickly  at  that.  The 
turns  of  business  life  often  require  instant 
perception,  prompt  decision,  rapid  action. 
One  on  whose  mind  an  idea  dawns  slowly  — 
who  digests  facts  as  an  anaconda  does  a  pig, 
35 


OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY 

OF 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

in  a  semi-comatose  state — such  a  one  will 
seldom  form  an  opinion  before  the  time  for 
action  has  passed.  He  is  like  the  old  lady 
on  the  underground  railroad  train  in  London. 
Being  very  stout  she  felt  obliged  to  back 
slowly  out  of  the  car  at  her  station.  But 
before  she  was  half  way  out  the  guard  came 
along  and  thought  she  was  getting  in,  so  he 
briskly  pushed  her  in  the  car,  slammed  the 
door,  and  away  went  the  train..  She  went 
five  times  around  the  entire  circuit  of  London, 
repeating  the  attempt  each  time  she  came  to 
her  station,  before  she  was  able  to  get  out 
finally.  Business  doesn't  wait  for  sleepy  peo- 
ple. An  acute  and  ready  mind  is  essential. 

Reliability,  too,  is  quite  as  important  an 
element  of  success.  Business  consists  of  deal- 
ing with  men ;  and  no  one  can  long  deal  suc- 
cessfully with  men  unless  they  learn  to  depend 
on  him.  They  must  be  confident  that  he  can 
do  what  he  attempts.  They  must  feel  sure 
that  he  will  do  what  he  agrees  to  do.  A 
man  who  has  thus  won  the  confidence  of  his 
associates  is  on  the  high  road  to  success. 
A  reputation  for  reliability  is  an  invaluable 

asset. 

36 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

In  short,  a  business  man's  resources  cannot 
all  be  deposited  in  the  bank.  They  include 
three  separate  things — what  he  has,  what  he 
is  in  himself,  and  the  good  opinion  of  his 
fellow-men.  Without  anyone  .of  these  three 
a  man  is  handicapped,  and  he  can  hardly  get 
the  first  and  the  third  unless  he  has  in  him- 
self the  four  prime  qualities  of  industry,  in- 
telligence, acuteness,  and  reliability. 

HOW  THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION  TRAINS 
TO  INDUSTRY. 

The  habit  of  sustained  mental  application 
is  got  only  by  persistently  applying  the  mind 
to  work  in  a  systematic  way ;  and  in  no  other 
line  of  life  is  such  systematic  mental  labor  so 
uniformly  required  as  in  our  higher  institutions 
of  learning.  In  not  a  few  lines  of  employment 
there  are  busy  times  and  slack  times.  Now, 
for  a  long  time  there  is  little  to  strain  the 
attention,  and  then  for  a  while  every  nerve 
is  taut.  But  in  college  the  work  is  almost 
absolutely  uniform.  It  can  be  successfully 
done  only  by  regular  application,  day  by  day, 
week  in  and  week  out.  It  is  work  of  a  kind, 
too,  calculated  to  draw  out  the  best  powers 
37 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

at  the  student's  control.  He  is  constantly 
thinking,  reasoning,  learning,  trying  to  under- 
stand. He  is  incessantly  training  himself  to 
submit  to  his  will — to  work  when  he  would 
rather  idle,  to  think  when  he  would  rather 
dream.  A  good  student  in  college  lives  a 
busy  life.  His  days  are  marked  out  into 
definite  portions,  and  to  each  is  allotted  a 
specific  task.  He  works  with  energy  from 
morning  till  night — often  into  the  night.  He 
is  no  sluggard.  Even  his  spurts  are  energetic. 
Lounging  plays  a  small  part  in  college  life. 
Base-ball,  foot-ball,  tennis  are  games  which 
hardly  encourage  indolence.  College  politics 
puts  one  on  the  qui  vive.  The  editor  of  a 
college  paper  has  no  sinecure. 

In  truth,  a  college  is  a  hive  of  industry. 
There  are  drones,  no  doubt,  and  sometimes 
they  buzz  more  than  the  workers.  But  they 
are  the  minority.  No  one  can  be  a  respec- 
table student  in  a  good  college  without  very 
systematic  industry — without  forming  the  habit 
of  working  steadily  and  cheerfully. 

Business  is  not  always  merely  so  much 
labor.  It  presents  constantly  new  difficulties, 
new  problems  to  solve,  and  that  is  just  the 
38 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

nature  of  a  student's  work.  He  has  by  no 
means  only  so  much  to  learn,  which  can  be 
swallowed  by  the  yard  as  the  Neapolitan 
peasants  seem  to  do  with  their  macaroni. 
College  life  is  full  of  knotty  questions. 
There  is  a  daily  grapple  with  these  difficulties. 
There  are  strength  and  confidence  learned  by 
experience  and  success.  In  short,  the  well- 
trained  college  man  knows  how  to  work 
patiently  and  hard,  how  to  wrestle  with  new 
questions,  how  to  keep  at  a  thing  until  he 
masters  it ;  and  this  is  the  very  essence  of  the 
habit  of  business.  The  higher  education 
should  give  just  the  training  in  industry 
which  a  business  life  demands. 

WHAT   SORT   OF   INTELLIGENCE   THE   HIGHER 
EDUCATION   GIVES. 

It  is  a  common  notion  that  the  student 
comes  out  of  college  laden  only  with  "  book 
knowledge,"  and  that  "  book  knowledge "  is 
of  necessity  unpractical,  and,  in  the  main, 
probably  more  or  less  useless.  This  is  an 
imperfect  notion,  like  many  others,  which 
people  form  without  adequate  investigation. 
The  fact  is  that  the  higher  education  deals 
39 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

with  a  great  mass  of  knowledge  which  has 
a  very  immediate  bearing  on  the  conduct 
of  life.  Language  and  literature  and  history 
are  not  mere  intellectual  luxuries.  They  are 
the  record  of  what  men  have  been  thinking 
and  doing  in  many  lands  and  in  many  ages. 
No  one  can  be  the  worse  for  such  knowl- 
edge, no  matter  what  his  purposes,  and  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  modes  of  human 
thought  and  action  under  a  wide  variety  of 
conditions  surely  is  not  a  bad  preparation  to 
understand  men  when  one  comes  to  deal 
actively  with  them. 

But  there  is  another  class  of  knowledge 
afforded  by  the  higher  education  which  has  a 
very  immediate  bearing  on  affairs.  Every 
advanced  modern  college  gives  much  atten- 
tion to  what  we  may  call,  roughly  speaking, 
the  social  sciences.  By  this  we  mean  a  study 
of  society  as  it  is  to-day.  There  is  an  analysis 
of  the  structure  and  working  of  government ; 
the  essentials  of  law,  public  and  private ;  the 
elements  of  economics,  including  an  investiga- 
tion of  industrial  methods  and  of  the  principles 
of  finance.  This  sort  of  study  does  not  by 
any  means  consist  in  the  mere  teaching  of 
40 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

shadowy  theories.  It  rather  involves  a  care- 
ful investigation  of  facts  and  a  training  in 
drawing  sound  conclusions.  The  knowledge 
thus  reached  is  of  the  utmost  value  to  every 
man  who  has  to  do  with  actual  affairs.  This 
value  may  be  said  to  lie  mainly,  perhaps,  in 
enabling  one  to  avoid  mistakes.  The  experi- 
ence of  people  who  have  been  working  under 
erroneous  ideas,  the  experiments  which  have 
been  made  and  have  failed,  the  proved  princi- 
ples of  safe  policy,  the  legal  ideas  which 
underlie  our  society,  all  these  are  the  mater- 
ial of  an  intelligence  which  is  of  the  highest 
moment  to  business  life.  More  of  it  would 
have  prevented  a  multitude  of  wild  enterprises 
with  their  inevitable  loss  to  their  projectors 
and  disaster  to  the  community. 

Another  essential  part  of  the  modern 
higher  education  includes  the  material  sciences. 
Chemistry  and  physics,  geology  and  biology ; 
without  these  and  similar  branches  a  modern 
college  course  is  impossible.  But  all  these 
deal  with  subject  matter  of  knowledge  which 
has  an  eminently  practical  bearing.  These 
are  the  things  in  which  the  world  to-day  is 
making  tremendous  progress.  They  are  filled 
41 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

with  the  most  absorbing  interest.  With  the 
vast  expansion  of  scientific  knowledge  the 
control  of  material  forces  is  also  extended. 
With  the  extension  of  that  control  the  means 
and  methods  of  business  are  from  time  to 
time  fairly  revolutionized  ;  and  it  is  plain  that 
scientific  knowledge  has  a  very  significant 
business  value. 

The  higher  education,  then,  is  calculated  to 
give  a  broad  intelligence  which  fits  one  the 
better  to  understand  any  business  problems  ; 
and  with  this  broad  intelligence  it  should  be 
noticed  that  such  problems  are  approached 
from  above,  rather  than  from  below.  There 
is  a  great  difference  between  reaching  up  to 
understand  a  situation,  and  reaching  down 
to  it. 

Of  course,  no  man,  no  matter  what  his 
general  intelligence,  is  fitted  for  a  specific 
business  until  he  has  also  mastered  the  special 
knowledge  which  belongs  to  it.  But,  as  a 
rule,  the  acquisition  of  that  special  knowl- 
edge is  not  difficult  to  one  who  has  already 
found  out  how  to  learn  and  how  to  do.  He 
will  grasp  rapidly  and  learn  readily.  And  as 
compared  with  one  who  has  merely  acquired 
42 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

the  special  knowledge,  the  highly  educated 
man  has  an  advantage  in  his  wider  range  of 
intelligence.  It  is  of  enormous  value  when 
one  learns  something  to  be  able  to  put  it  in 
relation  with  something  else.  If,  however, 
the  number  of  things  one  knows  is  small, 
there  are  not  many  relations  which  can  be 
found  for  it.  But  a  man  whose  mind  is  full 
never  gets  a  new  idea  without  at  once  seeing 
its  bearing  on  a  great  number  of  other  ideas  ; 
and  a  business  man  whose  mind  in  this  way 
bristles  with  hooks  for  grappling  with  facts 
is  sure  to  have  so  fresh  an  intelligence  that 
his  business  is  no  mere  routine. 

The  higher  education  makes  an  intelligent 
man ;  and  the  more  intelligent  a  man  is,  other 
things  equal,  the  better  adapted  he  is  for 
business. 

THE   HIGHER   EDUCATION   GIVES   MENTAL 
GRASP. 

A  large  part  of  education  consists  in  the 
training  it  gives.  Knowledge  may  be  power, 
but  a  disciplined  mind  is  powerful.  Of  course 
discipline  can  be  obtained  in  many  ways,  and 
it  is  by  no  means  lacking  as  the  result  of  an 
orderly  business  experience.  Good  training 
43 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

in  a  good  college,  however,  is  a  mental  gym- 
nastic than  which  none  better  has  yet  been 
found.  In  fact,  the  knowledge  which  a 
student  may  acquire  is  by  no  means  so  im- 
portant as  the  control  of  his  own  mind  which 
he  should  get  from  his  college  education. 
No  matter  if  he  cannot  read  a  page  of  Latin, 
demonstrate  a  single  proposition  in  trigono- 
metry, or  recite  the  simplest  chemical  formula. 
All  this  can  be  passed  by,  provided  he  has 
learned  how  to  think,  how  to  use  any  or  all 
of  the  powers  of  his  mind  readily,  accurately, 
and  vigorously  at  will.  This  is  the  richest 
fruit  of  a  college  course.  For  this  a  well- 
planned  curriculum  has  been  constructed.  For 
this  the  ablest  professors  give  their  best  efforts. 
President  Garfield  is  credited  with  saying  that 
"  a  good  enough  college  for  him  was  a  log 
with  himself  on  one  end  of  it  and  Mark  Hop- 
kins, the  venerable  president  of  Williams 
College,  on  the  other."  What  he  meant  was 
that  the  training  in  thinking  which  that  in- 
comparable teacher  could  give  was  really  a 
liberal  education  in  itself,  and  he  was  quite 
right.  To  have  a  mind  stored  with  knowledge 
is  a  good  thing.  To  have  a  mind  under  per- 
44 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

feet  control  at  all  times,  is  a  far  more  impor- 
tant thing.  Such  a  mind  will  know  at  once 
how  and  where  to  get  any  needed  information. 

In  other  words,  the  higher  education  sup- 
plies both  knowledge  and  power;  and  of 
these  power  is  the  more  important. 

Now,  it  is  just  this  trained  alertness  of 
mind  which  business  needs  above  all.  One 
may  get  it  without  much  schooling  *  but  the 
college  man  who  has  improved  his  opportuni- 
ties is  sure  to  have  it.  He  can  think  quickly, 
he  can  think  accurately,  he  can  see  a  point  at 
once,  he  has  no  need  of  laborious  explana- 
tions. In  short,  he  has  ready  command  of 
the  tool  which  every  business  man  must  use — 
his  head.  Of  course,  if  he  has  sawdust  in 
his  head,  as  some  college  students  appear  to 
have,  not  much  can  be  expected  of  him. 
But  in  that  case  he  certainly  would  have  been 
no  more  efficient  even  if  he  had  never  gone 
to  college.  Sawdust  brains  are  neither  hurt 
nor  helped  by  education. 

THE    HIGHER    EDUCATION   SHOULD    GIVE    A 
HIGH    SENSE    OF    HONOR. 

It  is  not  all  college  students  who  have  a 
delicate  sense  of  honor,  more's  the  pity ;  but 
45 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

after  all,  those  who  do  not  are  the  exception 
to  a  very  general  rule.  The  conditions  under 
which  students  meet  and  associate  in  college 
are  such  as  to  develop  genuine  qualities. 
Shams  are  quickly  seen  through  and  cor- 
dially despised.  Meanness  and  real  vulgarity 
are  looked  down  upon.  Such  rough  and 
boisterous  ways  as  students  are  apt  to  affect 
come  from  the  overflow  of  animal  spirits,  and 
at  least  have  in  them  nothing  sneaking.  On 
the  contrary,  there  grows  up  among  the 
young  men  an  ideal  of  a  gentleman  which,  if 
not  altogether  above  criticism,  has  at  least 
this  sound  quality — respect  for  one's  word. 
A  gentleman  is  above  falsehood  or  low  trick- 
ery ;  he  scorns  it  because  he  respects  himself. 
Is  not  this,  after  all,  the  essence  of  the 
character  of  a  gentleman  ?  That  is  a  char- 
acter which  many  affect  and  which  not  a  few 
misconceive.  Some  seem  to  think  it  lies  in 
the  proper  necktie,  the  correct  hat,  the  crease 
in  the  trousers.  Others  place  it  in  "good 
manners  "  of  the  ball-room  or  parlor  type — 
they  become  carpet  knights.  Many  are  sure 
that  to  be  a  gentleman  depends,  at  least, 
in  some  way  on  what  "they  say,"  on  what 
46 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

"they  are  wearing,"  on  what  custom  pre- 
scribes, on  "  correct "  manners.  But  all  these 
put  the  standard  outside  oneself.  The  real 
gentleman  has  his  standard  within.  He 
respects  himself,  and  so  he  scorns  an  action 
which  he  knows  to  be  low  or  mean.  He 
scorns  it,  not  because  he  fears  the  opinion  of 
others,  but  because  he  does  not  wish  to  forfeit 
his  own  good  opinion.  He  is  not  veneered. 
It  is  this  type  which,  on  the  whole,  the 
higher  education  tends  to  develop.  No  col- 
lege can  make  a  gentleman  out  of  a  cad ;  but 
all  our  colleges  do  in  greater  or  less  degree 
impress  sound  ideas.  No  young  man  can  go 
successfully  through  a  course  of  liberal  learn- 
ing without  getting  a  pretty  clear  notion  of 
what  self-respect  demands,  and  without  trying 
in  the  main  to  stick  to  what  is  honorable  and 
clean.  Such  a  man  will  not  be  found  wanting 
when  he  is  tried.  He  will  do  what  he  agrees, 
he  will  be  above  low  tricks,  he  will  perform 
duties  faithfully,  he  will  be  a  reliable  man. 

THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION  ADAPTS  ONE 
TO  SOCIETY  AT  LARGE. 

"  My  foot  is  on  my  native  heath,"  was  the 
exultant  cry  of  MacGregor.     He  was  at  home 
47 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

and  he  feared  nothing.  He  knew  every  inch 
of  the  mountains — the  mountain  air  in  his 
nostrils  was  like  wine  to  quicken  the  blood 
— he  was  easily  confident  in  his  strength  and 
skill,  he  was  master  among  his  men.  But 
MacGregor,  in  his  tartan  plaid  and  kilt,  walk- 
ing down  the  crowded  street  of  a  great  capital, 
would  have  been  awkward  and  constrained. 
Every  gamin  would  have  mocked  him.  He 
would  have  been  out  of  place — bewildered 
amid  his  strange  surroundings — confused  and 
uncertain.  His  strength  and  skill  would  have 
been  useless. 

How  many  a  business  man  is  like  MacGre- 
gor? In  his  own  office,  among  his  familiar 
surroundings,  he  is  full  of  energy  and  confi- 
dence. He  knows  what  to  do  and  how  to  do 
it.  He  exactly  fits  his  environment — he  is  at 
home.  But  if  he  is  a  man  of  limited  educa- 
tion and  experience,  as  soon  as  he  is  put  in 
other  surroundings  he  is  quite  at  sea.  He 
does  not  know  how  to  meet  another  type  of 
men  than  that  to  which  he  is  accustomed. 
In  short,  he  is  provincial.  His  circle  of  life 
is  very  small,  and  he  is  lost  if  he  strays 
out  of  it. 

48 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

The  higher  education  broadens  the  circle; 
of  existence.  It  makes  one  a  man  of  the 
world,  at  home  anywhere  and  among  any 
class  of  men.  One's  business  may  be  small, 
but  there  is  a  whole  vast  world  outside  of  it 
with  which  education  has  made  him  familiar; 
so  he  is  not  tethered  to  a  spot.  If  circum- 
stances lead  him  outside  the  daily  routine, 
there  is  no  difficulty.  That  is  just  the  differ- 
ence which  education  makes.  A  man  of 
limited  education  is  in  touch  with  life  in  a 
few  points.  Wide  education  brings  contact 
with  life  at  many  points.  And  this  multipli- 
cation of  contact  with  life  just  to  that  extent 
multiplies  the  man.  The  possibility  of  under- 
standing and  enjoyment  is  much  greater;  the 
comprehension  and  the  grasp  of  business  op- 
portunities are  vastly  greater;  and  especially 
there  is  room  for  wider  social  influence. 
Very  much  of  life  lies  outside  the  avocation 
in  which  a  livelihood  and  a  fortune  are  made. 
In  the  church,  in  the  club,  in  politics,  in 
public  enterprises  of  all  kinds,  there  is  room 
for  strong  and  able  men  to  be  felt.  Small 
men,  to  be  sure,  find  it  all  they  can  do  to  fill 
49 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

a  small  place  in  the  world ;  but  men  with  big 
brains  and  big  hearts  are  like  the  housewife's 
loaves  of  bread,  which  she  sets  by  the  stove 
to  rise — they  are  sure  to  run  over  a  small 
pan ;  and  when  a  man  of  energy  and  ability 
finds  himself  taking  a  part  in  the  larger  affairs 
of  life,  he  will  be  only  too  glad  to  be  well 
fitted  for  its  activities.  This  fitness  thq,  higher 
education  affords.  It  makes  a  man  much 
more  than  a  business  man. 

THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION  TRAINS  TO  ENJOY 
AS  WELL  AS  TO  DO. 

Many  a  man  has  made  a  fortune  and  then 
has  no  idea  what  to  do  with  it.  Of  course, 
he  can  go  on  accumulating  more  money; 
in  many  cases  he  finds  his  main  enjoyment  in 
that.  But  the  truth  is  that  wealth  in  itself 
amounts  to  little ;  its  real  value  lies  in  the 
enormous  possibilities  which  it  opens.  It  is  a 
great  power,  and  one  who  knows  what  can  be 
done  with  it  realizes  that  it  is  not  so  much  the 
possession  of  wealth  as  the  use  of  wealth 
which  makes  it  desirable;  and  it  is  quite  as 
much  an  art  to  use  money  so  as  to  get  the 
most  out  of  it  as  it  is  to  acquire  it.  "  Coal- 
So 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

Oil  Johnny  "  suddenly  found  himself  in  pos- 
session of  a  vast  fortune.  He  was  an  un- 
trained, ignorant  boy.  He  squandered  his 
money  in  such  coarse  pleasures  as  he  could 
comprehend,  and  presently  he  was  poor  again. 
He  not  only  did  not  know  how  to  keep  riches, 
but  he  had  not  the  least  idea  how  to  use  them 
for  his  own  lasting  enjoyment.  Of  course, 
that  was  an  extreme  case  ;  but  there  is  a  wide 
difference  in  this  regard  between  one  whose 
training  has  all  gone  to  make  him  a  mere 
business  man,  and  one  who  has  been  educated 
with  wider  views.  A  highly  educated  man  is 
many-sided.  He  appreciates  and  enjoys  many 
things.  To  him  wealth  is  a  key  which  un- 
locks many  doors,  and  he  knows  where  the 
doors  are  and  to  what  they  lead.  He  is 
at  home  everywhere.  He  is  not  provincial 
but  cosmopolitan  in  his  way  of  life.  He  is 
a  citizen  of  the  world. 

WHO  SHOULD  GO  TO  COLLEGE. 

Should  it  be  the  aim  to  send  every  boy  to 

college  ?     Plainly  not,  any  more  than  to  make 

every  boy  a  lawyer,  or  a  druggist.     In  the 

first   place,  there   will   always   be  the  great 

5' 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

army  of  those  whose  circumstances  are  such 
that  there  is  no  question  of  higher  education. 
Then  there  are  the  few  who  are  so  bent  on 
getting  an  education  that  nothing  will  keep 
them  from  college.  With  neither  of  these 
classes  need  there  be  any  trouble.  The 
question  will  arise  only  with  those  boys  who 
can  afford  the  time  and  expense  of  a  college 
course,  but  who  are  quite  surely  destined  for 
business.  With  them,  will  a  college  train- 
ing pay? 

It  will  pay  if  there  is  any  likelihood  of  a 
career  in  some  of  the  larger  fields  of  business 
activity.  A  boy  who  probably  will  not  get 
much  beyond  the  position  of  assistant  in  a 
retail  grocery  may  as  well  be  satisfied  with  a 
common-school  training ;  but  a  business  man 
who  can  give  his  son  some  advantages  of  a 
start  in  life  may  well  include  in  those  advan- 
tages a  college  education.  If  the  boy  is  of 
the  right  sort,  he  will  in  college  form  habits 
of  methodical  industry,  quite  as  well  as  in  the 
factory.  He  will  learn  a  larger  intelligence 
than  can  be  given  by  mere  business  experi- 
ence. His  mind  will  be  trained  to  ready 
command  of  all  its  faculties.  If,  again,  he  is 
52 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

the  right  sort  of  boy  he  will  learn  a  high 
sense  of  honor.  Beyond  all  this  he  will 
become  adapted  for  social  life  in  all  its  forms  ; 
he  will  be  at  home  anywhere,  and  he  will 
have  his  ideas  so  broadened,  and  his  tastes  so 
cultivated  that  he  will  know  how  to  make  the 
most  of  life  wherever  he  is.  He  will  be  a 
larger  part  of  the  community. 

As  a  rule,  however,  such  a  boy  should  be 
allowed  to  go  to  college ;  he  should  not  be 
sent.  Unless  he  has  some  taste  for  study  and 
some  ambition  for  higher  learning,  the  likeli- 
hood of  his  benefiting  by  college  life  is  small. 
It  is  by  no  means  essential  that  he  should  be 
a  brilliant  scholar ;  he  should  be  a  respectable 
one.  It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  a  dis- 
taste for  study  by  no  means  implies  dullness ; 
and  many  a  boy  who  is  driven  to  college  is 
spoiled  by  so  doing.  Let  him  follow  his 
bent.  Only  in  doing  that  let  him  get  the 
discipline  of  will  power  that  comes  from  hard 
work,  systematically  done,  whether  it  is  agree- 
able or  not. 

But  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  the 
widened  scope  and  increasing  complexity  of 
modern  business  life  require  more  and  more 
53 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

of  a  higher  training.  One  cannot  safely  go 
by  the  practices  of  a  past  generation.  Great 
business  undertakings  to-day  are  demanding 
men  of  the  broadest  intelligence  and  of  trained 
intellect.  There  will  be  increasing  room  for 
such  men ;  and  such  men  need  the  light  and 
the  culture  of  the  higher  education. 

In  fine,  a  boy  who  is  inclined  to  go  to 
college  should  be  encouraged  in  that  ambi- 
tion if  the  way  is  clear.  Other  things  equal, 
he  will  be  a  better  business  man  for  his 
college  training;  and  he  will  be  a  larger 
man. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 

Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


6  Feb  52l.fi 

8AY26H 


NOV8    t954  LU 


APR1    1955  LU 

LD21 


13Aug'5EQB 
REC'D  LD 

SEP    5  1956 


APR  1  » 1972 


JUN 


OtilflOCr: 


1  5 
REC'D  LD 

AUG6    1957 


NflV    3 

.   O 


1971 


2  9  1972  7 
'72  -10  PM 


^D  21-100m-9,'47(A5702sl6)476 


P-       ££. ..  YB  66828 

.60   i.  - 


